Cameron Kruckow
Age: 31
Home town: Miriwinni, QLD
STRIDING across from the yards, proudly wearing his new Consolidated Pastoral Company (CPC) work shirt, Cameron Kruckow is clearly a man on the move.
As Manbulloo's station manager with wife Tammy, Mr Kruckow oversees 379,131 hectares of Top End cattle country.
He is a staunch advocate for station life, after spending the past 13 years on CPC's cattle properties - though he never imagined he'd one day be managing one.
When he left his family property near Miriwinni in northern Queensland as an eager 17-year-old, Mr Kruckow admits he was "a bit of a mouthful" with a fixed mind of his own.
"I just wanted to be head stockman and run a stock camp," he said, recalling his first year as a jackaroo on Newry, in Western Australia.
"That's all I set out to achieve. I never thought of progression to management."
But a willingness to learn and a desire to do the job right soon saw him naturally progress through the ranks.
After a couple of years at Newry, Mr Kruckow moved to Newcastle Waters, a million-hectare breeding and finishing property in the west Barkly region of the Northern Territory.
Turning off 25,000 to 30,000 head annually, as well as home to Newcastle Waters Brahman stud, the property held great appeal.
Mr Kruckow had visited the property for CPC's annual induction program and knew it was a place he needed to be to progress his career.
Coincidentally, it was on this program at Newcastle Waters that he first met his now wife Tammy, before kindling the romance upon his move to the property the next year.
The next near-decade saw him work his way through a number of positions, including as a leading hand, head stockman and then an outstation manager, before advancing to a management role at Manbulloo in January 2013.
Driven by success, Mr Kruckow's working life has
been "all about continuous improvement and progression".
The Territory provided a gateway to launch his career in the beef industry, but Mr Kruckow grants northern exposure provides different purpose for everyone.
"You'd have to say the large majority [of ringers] are the short-stint people looking for something different in life," he said.
"There are all those career people as well, but we're always trying to promote to get more career people into the industry.
"I think we need more because if there are not people following, we won't have an industry in the future."
He added that many workers who come off family properties seek northern experience before returning home to take over the farm.
As for him and Tammy, along with their three children, Dakota, Kadence and Billie May, they are in the Territory for the long haul.
"Definitely - we've been here for this long it's home now."
Mr Krukow said.
